Role Homeostasis in Understanding Human Body

Homeostasis is the tendency for the body to maintain a relatively constant internal environment, which is crucial to sustain life as both humans and many other organisms operate on a narrow range of optimal conditions. Homeostasis is achieved through the collaboration of the various systems and hormones within the body (Englehart, 2018). Ghrelin is an important feeding peptide hormone which is primarily synthesized by an organism’s gastrointestinal endocrine cells. Ghrelin is largely produced and secreted during periods of negative energy balance, for example, during times of stress, anxiety, or depression (Lutter, 2008, 1). Overall, ghrelin is significant as studies suggest that the hormone plays a substantial role in helping the body achieve and maintain homeostasis by regulating the depressive symptoms associated with stress, hippocampal neurogenesis, and spine synapse density in the hippocampus.Role Homeostasis in Understanding Human Body

To begin, ghrelin helps achieve and maintain homeostasis by regulating the depressive symptoms associated with stress and anxiety. This is evident as studies suggest levels of circulating ghrelin within mice increasing after undergoing certain tasks. These tasks include the chronic defeat stress procedure (CSDS), an examination which induces behavioural deficits such as depression, social avoidance, and anxiety within the test subjects. Although these behavioural issues can be reversed with the use of antidepressant treatments, the results indicate levels of ghrelin within mice elevate in order to naturally combat the acute stress and depressive symptoms associated with the CSDS procedure.

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